Leila Pahlavi was born on 27 March 1970 in Tehran, Iran. She was the fourth and youngest child of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the Empress Farah Pahlavi.[2] She had two elder brothers, an elder sister and an elder half-sister.[2]
Pahlavi studied at Brown University literature and philosophy, she was said to have graduated in 1992. [3] However some sources say she left university before graduation due to her declining health.[3] She was a onetime model for the designer Valentino, and suffered from anorexia nervosa, chronic low self-esteem, severe depression[4] and chronic fatigue syndrome.[5]
On Sunday 10 June 2001, Leila was found dead in her room in Leonard Hotel in London just before 19:30 BST by her doctor.[6] She was found to have more than five times the lethal dose of Seconal, a barbiturate, which is used to treat insomnia, in her system, along with a nonlethal amount of cocaine.[7] She was found in bed, her body emaciated by years of anorexia, bulimia,[8] and food intolerances.[9] According to a report on her death, which included information from an autopsy conducted by the Westminster Coroner's Court, she stole the Seconal from her doctor's desk during an appointment and was addicted to the drug, typically taking 40 pills at once, rather than the prescribed two.[8]
